Cartridge case retriever for firearms



Jly 19, 1949. c. A. PERRY CARTRIDGE CASE RETRIEVER FOR FIREARKMS Filed March 19, 1947 (entor @T4 A llorney `N MM 0| Patented July 19, 1949 UNITED ST ATENT FFEC CARTRIDGE oAsE RETRIEVER Fon FIREARMS British company Application March 19, 1947, Serial No. 735,559 In Great Britain May 26, 1945 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires May 26, 1965 3 Claims. l

I'he present invention is concerned with improvements in or relating to firearms and is particularly though by no means exclusively concerned with small bore firearms of the kind used for miniature target shooting at, for example, fun-fairs.

Small bore firearms used at fun-fairs are of the blow-back kind but are initially loaded by an attendant with a. plurality of cartridges and during firing spent cartridge cases are automatically ejected either from the side of the underneath portion of the firearm, In any case the cartridge cases drop at random to the ground and in the course of ejection they are liable, at least, to soil the clothingof the user or of onlookers nearby since they become fouled by reason of the explosive gases emitted upon ring. The spent cases also have some value as scrap material and it is customary to collect as many as possible for subsequent sale. As the cases are ejected at random their collection is a somewhat tedious task and usually many cases become lost, particularly if they fall on grass or sawdust.

In connection with magazine firearms, the prior art discloses that it has been proposed to provide a cartridge case retriever in the form of a bag or receptacle which is suspended by a fra-me removably pivoted to a fixed trigger guard, but such arrangement requires the receptacle to be detached from the firearm in order to discharge the spent cartridge cases.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved cartridge case retriever which constitutes an integral part of a combined trigger guard and cooking handle of the firearm, whereby the collected cases are automatically discharged upon cooking of the rearm.

In the said drawings:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of the body part of a firearm illustrative of the invention with the ring mechanism shown in uncooked position immediately after the firing of a cartridge;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 with the firing mechanism shown in position during the action of cooking by the use of a cooking handle; and

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse section substantially on the line 3-3 in Figure 1.

The illustrative rearm is of the blow-back type and has a tubular magazine I in the butt end thereof from which cartridges 3 are springurged into the firing chamber 5. On the under portion of the body part 'I of the rearm is formed an ejection aperture 9 through which spent cartridge cases II are ejected. The spent cartridge cases are preferably ejected by any conventional means. which forms no part of the present inf' vention. Any convenient sear mechanism may be provided and for actuating the scar mechanism for initial cooking purposes the illustrative firearm comprises a combined Cvshaped lever and trigger guard I5.

As shown in the Present instance, the seal' mechanism comprises a secr plate i3 pivoted at 30 to the sides of the body of the firearm and having a projection 3| thereon arranged to en gage the forward peripheral edge 32 of the breech block I 6 to hold the latter in retracted or cocked position, and being disengageable therefrom by a trip pawl 33 pivoted at 34 on the upper end of a trigger 35 when the latter is actuated. The breech block is pivoted on a pivot pin I'I sup ported in the body part 'I and is urged toward closed position by a spring 36 one end of which engages a pin 31 on the breech block and the other end of which engages a pin 36@ in the body part l. The breech block carries a firing pin. 38 engageable with the rim of a cartridge in the cartridge chamber of the barrel 39 when the breech block is closed, and the breech block carries an extractor 40 which engages the rim of a cartridge case in the cartridge chamber and extracts the empty case when the breech block .is retracted.

The cartridges 3 are fed from the magazine I by a feed tube 4I which is pivoted on a Pivot pin 42 mounted in the sides of the body part, the feed tube riding on the arcuate periphery of the breech block so that when the latter is fully retracted or cocked, the feed tube will descend and feed a cartridge to the cartridge chamber in the barrel, and when the breech block closes, the feed tube will be raised to clear the breech block.

The sear plate I3 is provided at its forward end with a finger 43 which rides on the arcuate periphery of the breech block, and with a shoulder 44 which is engageable by the forward end of a safety lever 45, the latter being pivoted on a pivot pin 46 mounted in the sides of the body part and provided with a spring 41 which urges its forward end toward enga-ging position with said shoulder. A thumb slide 48 is mounted on the top of the body part and carries a pin 49 which, while the thumb slide is in its rear position enters a recess 50 in the safety lever and thereby allows the forward end of the safety lever to engage behind the shoulder 44, and when the thumb slide is moved forwardly, the pin 49 will enter a recess 5I in the safety lever and thereby hold the latter clear of the shoulder 44 on the sear plate. The lever I5 is pivoted on the pivot pin I'l just rearwardly of its forward end to the body part and has an upwardly extending front end portion I9 for engagement with the breech block I6 of the sear mechanism. The lever l5 extends rearwardly and at its rear end is curved upwardly and has av spring clip arrangement 2I formed thereon for co-operation with a small groove 23 in thebody part to maintain the lever in normal position. Intermediate its end portions the lever I5 is provided at each side thereof with upwardly extending side plates 4.$25. The side plates merge into the opposite edges of the upwardly extending front portion I9 and are of such a height as to engage with the underside of the body part when the lever'is inits normal position as aforesaid and as shown in Figure 1. Furthermore the open-ended re` ceptacle thus formed by the plates 25 and the front portion I9 of th-e lever shrouds the cartridge case ejection aperture 9 so that spent cartridge cases are received therein during the use of the rearm. To prevent spent cases from falling out of the receptacle when the lever is in its normal or closed position there is provided a downwardly extending web 21 on the body part which is adapted to form the rear wall of the receptacle;

Normally in the use of a rearm of this nature the user will re'off all the cartridges therein cocking being eiected automatically by explosive gases as is well understood and an indication is aiOrded that the magazine is empty when the trigger is actuated with no iiring result. At this stage it is necessary to re-load the magazine and also manually to re-cock the firearm. In recocking the lever I5 will be moved downwardly and orwardlyabout its pivot I1 (as shown in Figure 2)V thus moving the'receptacle on the lever away from the web 27 and so allowing the spent cases maintained therein to drop freelyv away into a container or other vessel located zbelow the rearm'. In such movement of the lever its front end portion IS will engage the breech block I6 moving the latter rearwardly to cocked position as seen in Figure 2. Thus it will be appreciated that there is provided in the illustrative firearm a means for retaining spent cartridge cases therein and a means for causing automatic discharge of the cases from the rearm during cooking thereof.

Having thus described my invention, What I .4 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A firearm having in combination a body part, a breech block pivoted in the body part,

`a combined trigger guard and cocking handle for manually moving the breech block in cooking V-the firearm, the body part having an aperture vformed therein through which spent cartridge cases are ejected, a receptacle formed integrally with rsaidl trigger guard and cooking handle arranged to receive and retain the spent cartridge cases when said handle is in its closed position,

vand to automatically discharge the cases from the rearm upon manual opening of said handle to cock the rearm.

2, A rearm having in combination a body part. a breech block pivoted in the body part, a combined trigger guard and cocking handle for manually moving the breech block in cooking the rearm, the body part having an aperture therein through which spent cartridge cases are ejected, and a receptacle formed integrally with said combined trigger guard and cooking handle for receiving and retaining the spent cartridge cases, said'receptacle having an open end portion, and the rearm having a web adapted to close said end portion of the receptacle when the combined trigger guard and cocking handle is in its closed position.

3. A rearm having in combination a body part, a breech block pivoted 'in the body part, a combined trigger guard' and cooking handle for manually moving the breech block in cocking the firearm, thegbody part having an'ape'rture therein through which spent cartridge cases are ejected, and a receptacle formed integrally with said combined trigger guard and cocking handle for receiving and retaining the spent cartridge cases, said combinedtrigger guard and cooking handle comprising a C-shaped lever pivoted near its forward end portion and provided at its rear end with means for holding it in closed position.

CLAUDE ALFRED PERRY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record `in the ile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 374,597 Gregg Dec. 13, 1887 1,059,477 Lewis Apr. 22, 1913 

